Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson To Become The 72nd President Of The United States Conference Of Mayors

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Mayor Kevin M. Johnson will become the 72nd President of The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) when he is sworn in at a gavel passing ceremony in Sacramento on Wednesday, April 16th.

This special inauguration has been scheduled because the current President of USCM, Mesa, AZ Mayor Scott Smith has announced his candidacy for the office of Governor of Arizona. Local law dictates that Mayor Smith must vacate his seat as mayor for his gubernatorial run. Mayor Johnson, who currently serves as the Vice-President of USCM, will serve the balance of Mayor Smith's presidential term, which would have ended in June 2014, in addition to a full one-year term as President of the organization until June 2015. As President, Mayor Johnson will preside over all official meetings, develop and advocate for the bipartisan agenda adopted by the nation's mayors, appoint committee and task force chairs to serve in the leadership of the organization, as well as serve as the organization's national and global spokesperson.

"It is a privilege and an honor to serve in this role, representing the nation's mayors," said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. "Mayors are at the helm of America's cities and represent the best of this country developing innovative, pragmatic solutions to the challenges they face. I look forward to learning from them while delivering results for Sacramento."

Mayor Johnson will preside over his first official meeting in June in Dallas, TX at the 82nd Annual Meeting of The U.S. Conference of Mayors, when the nation's mayors assemble to develop their bipartisan agenda, highlighting the ways mayors are solving problems in their cities. Mayor Johnson's USCM presidency will focus on improving education outcomes in the nation's public schools, building cities' resilience to economic and natural disasters, and rebuilding the country's infrastructure through stronger federal-local and public-private partnerships. In addition, Mayor Johnson will continue to look to other mayors for input and ideas, emphasizing that The U.S. Conference of Mayors will embrace an inclusive and representative agenda for all of America's mayors.

"We are pleased to welcome Mayor Johnson to lead this great organization. As President of USCM, he will hold the highest honor that an American mayor can have. He will represent Sacramento and all of the mayors and cities of the USA to the nation and to the world, and we welcome his bold style of leadership."

Cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas are the life-blood of this nation, so mayors are uniquely positioned to positively impact the economic direction of the country," said Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of The Conference. "We know that mayors govern where people feel it the most, so we understand how critical a role all mayors play in improving the lives of residents."

Mayor Johnson was elected as the 55th mayor of the City of Sacramento in November 2008 and re-elected to a second term in June 2012. He is the first African American to be elected to the office in the city. Mayor Johnson will be the first Mayor of Sacramento and the sixth mayor from the state of California to serve as President in the history of The U.S. Conference of Mayors (Arthur Selland from Fresno in 1963, Jack Maltester from San Leandro from 1969-1970, Joseph Alioto from San Francisco from 1974-1975, Beverly O'Neill from Long Beach, CA from 2005-2006 and Antonio Villaraigosa from Los Angeles in 2011-2012).

Before running for public office, Johnson had a diverse career as a professional athlete, entrepreneur and nonprofit executive. From 1987 to 1999, Johnson played professional basketball in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns.

Based in Washington, D.C., The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. The primary roles of the Conference are to promote the development of effective national urban/suburban policy; strengthen federal-city relationships; ensure that federal policy meets urban needs; provide mayors with leadership and management tools; and create a forum in which mayors can share ideas and information.

WHAT: Sacramento, CA Mayor Kevin Johnson to be Inaugurated as President of The USCM